When a human sustains an injury to, or disease of, his or her arm, it may be common to stabilize the injured arm to permit it to properly heal. Such practice may be a result of the human body's natural response to injury, wherein blood flows to the damaged tissue to help prevent movement of the injured body part. This phenomena may commonly be known as swelling. Furthermore, the injury may result in pain, which may discourage many humans from attempting to move or otherwise use the injured body part.
However, every person may not respond to pain in the same way. Moreover, some people may not feel pain when injured, while some injuries may not induce pain. Some people may feel pain, but not associate the pain with the injury. People with less than fully developed, or reduced, mental capacity may be especially susceptible to such dissociation with injury, pain, and the desire to refrain from moving or otherwise using an injured body part.
Less than fully developed, or reduced, mental capacity may be a result of many factors, including without limitation, underdevelopment of the mental faculties, physical trauma, chemical imbalance, and disease. Common examples of people with less than fully developed, or reduced, mental capacity may include, without limitation, infants, head trauma victims, and individuals with intellectual disabilities (also known as mental retardation).
People with less than fully developed, or reduced, mental capacity may be at a greater risk or re-injury due to their inability to self-regulate the movement or use of their injured body parts. Furthermore, less than fully developed, or reduced, mental capacity may preclude such people from understanding instructions provided to them by medical professionals. For example, an infant may not understand that he or she should not move an injured body part, and the infant may not understand directions instructing him or her to keep the injured body part immobilized.
Devices have been developed that may aid patients in immobilizing their injured or diseased body parts. A common example is the triangular sling, which may be donned by a patient to immobilize an injured arm. A triangular sling wraps around the lower arm at one end, wraps around the neck at the other end, and is used to support the weight of the injured arm. However, a triangular sling may support the arm in the vertical axis only, and specifically, only in a direction opposite the force caused by the acceleration of gravity acting upon the mass of the injured arm. A triangular sling may thus provide little to no support horizontally, radially, or in a downward vertical direction. As a result, a patient who does not understand the importance of keeping the arm immobilized is not prevented by the triangular sling from moving the injured arm in these unrestrained directions. A patient who is permitted to move an injured body part may be more likely to either re-injure or slow the healing process of the injured body part.
Another possible cause of the unrestrained mobility of an injured arm supported by a triangular sling is the relative ease with which the triangular sling may be removed. For example, a triangular sling merely rests around the neck of the patient, with nothing but friction and the weight of the injured arm holding it in place. Likewise, the distal end of the triangular sling merely rests around the lower arm of the patient, with nothing but friction and the weight of the injured arm holding the triangular sling in place. It may take little effort to remove a triangular sling donned in this manner. Furthermore, such a sling may inadvertently be disrupted such that it may no longer properly support and immobilize the injured arm.
Thus, an injured or diseased arm may need to be properly immobilized, despite a patient's potential inability to willfully maintain such immobilization. What is needed is an apparatus to more securely and/or reliably immobilize a patient's arm.